13 SONGS (The CW, New!) - "American Dreams" creator Jonathan Prince is developing a new drama at the netlet about an all-girl rock group as they navigate love, friendship and family while pursuing their music career. Interscope Records is co-producing the project along with regular CW partners CBS Paramount Network Television and Warner Bros. Television. As for specifics, it's understood each episode will feature a new original single written and performed by the faux band (but actually done by a contributing real-life girl group) that will be available for download after said installment airs. Prince then is writing and executive producing the pilot along with Interscope's Polly Anthony and Jimmy Iovine while Alex Sabeti will serve as a co-executive producer.
Burn Notice Season 7 Episode 1 Download
THE JANICE DICKINSON MODELING AGENCY (Oxygen) - Oxygen is going into production on a second season of its top-rated series "The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency" and has expanded the unscripted show's format to an hour.The women's-targeted cable network said Monday that Season 2 will consist of eight hourlong episodes plus a one-hour holiday special titled "Christmas With the Dickinsons." The first season, which debuted June 6, consisted of 10 half-hour episodes plus a one-hour finale.While the first season followed model-turned-mogul Dickinson through the highs and lows of starting her own Hollywood modeling agency, the second season will take a closer look at the lives of the models and explore whether the agency really has what it takes to succeed.Production on the show begins this week. The holiday special is slated to air in December, with new Season 2 episodes set to air starting in January."Janice's first season was a big hit -- she is a one-of-a-kind personality, and our audience couldn't get enough of her," said Debby Beece, president of programming and marketing at Oxygen. "Expanding the second season's format will give viewers the chance to get to know Janice even better -- from her fearless and funny moments to her struggles and conflicts."The show's June 6 debut set a network record as its highest-rated series premiere ever with 468,000 total viewers. Overall, Season 1 averaged 352,000 viewers per week."Janice" is executive produced by Stuart Krasnow for Krasnow Prods., Kevin Williams and Dickinson.TO LOVE AND DIE IN L.A. (USA) - Frances Fisher and Ivan Sergei have joined the cast of USA Network's tentatively titled pilot "To Love and Die in L.A."The project centers on a fun-loving thirtysomething (Shiri Appleby) with abandonment issues who becomes convinced that her dating problems would be resolved if only she could track down the father(TimMatheson) she never knew. When she finds him, she discovers that he's an assassin and that she may have found her calling.Fisher will portray Janet, the mother of Appleby's character, and Sergei will star as Blue, a potential love interest for Appleby's character who also works for her father. Jackie de Crinis, senior vp original scripted series programming at USA, praised the two newest cast members."Frances was just so mind-blowingly funny and beautiful and hit every layer of this character with wit, elegance and self-confidence -- she knocked it out of the box," de Crinis said. "Ivan is such a great get -- he's handsome, sexy and cool and just felt like a great Blue. We're so happy to have such an incredible ensemble."Principal photography on the pilot is set to begin Nov. 6 in Vancouver.The project is from Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video Television in association with NBC Universal Television Studio. Sara Goodman serves as creator and co-executive producer, with JoAnn Alfano and David Kanter executive producing. Andrew Singer is producing, while Mark Piznarski is directing. Fisher was nominated for a SAG Award in 1998 as part of the cast of the feature film "Titanic." Her recent credits include the films "Laws of Attraction" and "House of Sand and Fog" as well as appearances on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and NBC's "ER." Fisher is repped by Tammy Rosen at Melanie Greene Management.Sergei's credits include roles on NBC's "Crossing Jordan" and WB Network's "Charmed" and "Jack & Jill." On the film side, he recently appeared in "The Break-Up." Sergei is repped by the Gersh Agency and manager Joannie Burstein.THE THICK OF IT (New!) - After skewering affluenza in Orange County, Mitchell Hurwitz and former "Arrested Development" scribe Richard Day have set their sights on the mining the humor in bureaucratic ineptitude.Hurwitz, the Emmy-winning creator and executive producer of Fox's "Arrested Development," and Day have signed on to develop the U.S. adaptation of the BBC4 series "The Thick of It" for Sony Pictures TV, BBC Worldwide Prods. and the Hurwitz Co. The British series centers on a put-upon member of Parliament who is continually harassed by inept bureaucrats working for the prime minister and other politicians and civil servants.Sony is in the process of shopping the project to prospective network buyers.Day, who was a co-executive producer on "Development," will write the pilot script for the half-hour, single-camera comedy and executive produce along with Hurwitz, Armando Iannucci, creator of the original series, and Paul Telegdy of BBC Worldwide. Hurwitz will supervise the project and produce through his Hurwitz Co. banner. BBC Worldwide has a first-look production pact with Sony Pictures TV.The original "Thick," starring Chris Langham and Peter Capaldi, took the best new comedy trophy at the British Comedy Awards.Advertisement"Development" ended its three-season run on Fox this year after collecting the Emmy for best comedy series in 2004 and an Emmy for Hurwitz for penning the show's pilot. In addition to "Development," Day's TV credits include NBC's "Good Morning, Miami" and HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show."Hurwitz and Day are repped by CAA. Hurwitz is repped by attorney Jim Jackoway; Day is with attorney Jared LevineMarvel Studios has pacted with Vancouver-based production company No Equal Entertainment to develop a live-action TV series based on the cult-favorite comicbook superhero Moon Knight.Skein will follow soldier of fortune Marc Spector as he becomes the titular vigilante after an encounter with the Egyptian god of vengeance and moon deity. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CBS) - Wayne Brady will guest star in a November sweeps episode of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" -- and he'll be playing the brother of Neil Patrick Harris' Barney.Harris is white. Brady isn't. So it's safe to assume one of the brothers is adopted, right?"I feel like the less we say about it, the funnier it will be," said "Mother" exec producer and co-creator Carter Bays. "We wanted to present a different kind of family. (And) we like that 'What the hell?' factor."About the only thing Bays will reveal is that Barney and his bro have "an interesting relationship." And while Brady is only booked for one episode, Thomas said he'd like the role to become recurring.One recent "Mother" guest star who has signed on for several more segs is ex-"Malcolm in the Middle" star Bryan Cranston, who plays Ted's obnoxious boss.As for Brady, thesp is slated to shoot his episode next week. Seg is tentatively slated to air Nov. 27.Brady is repped by WMA. LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT (NBC) - For the first time in more than a decade, a broadcast network crime show, NBC U's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," will run on TV stations in a Monday-to-Friday rerun grid.NBC U has signed a batch of Fox-owned TV stations, led by the outlets in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, to take "Criminal Intent" beginning in fall 2007. The stations pay no cash for the series, but will have to give up 7 minutes within each hour to NBC for national sale.If NBC U averages a doable $8,000 for a 30-second spot in the two-year deal, the company would harvest $30 million a year. That's found money for NBC U because there's no syndication exclusivity: "Criminal Intent" will continue to run on its regular Monday-Friday schedule on USA and its three primetime hours on USA's Bravo sibling every Sunday.In modern syndie history, off-network crime shows do run in syndication, but only on the weekends. Cable networks have locked up the Monday-Friday window because they're willing to pony up bigger bucks than TV stations. For "Criminal Intent," USA and Bravo jointly paid $1.9 million an episode; only two other hours have fetched more in rerun syndication: "The Sopranos" ($2.5 million, from A&E) and "CSI: New York" ($2.05 million, from Spike).USA and Bravo will get an undisclosed rebate from NBC U because the original "Criminal Intent" deal was exclusive and didn't even provide for weekend syndication.Frank Cicha, senior VP of programming for the Fox O&Os, said he was attracted to the deal because the series has scored bigger ratings on NBC this year in its new time period of Tuesday at 9.In the markets where Fox owns two stations, "Criminal Intent" most likely will play on the MyNetworkTV outlet, not the Fox Broadcasting station, Cicha said. A lot of these stations, he continued, will schedule the series either in latenight or in early fringe (4-6 p.m.).Cicha sees "Criminal Intent" as "an appropriate backup show," particularly since there are so few successful sitcom reruns coming into syndication, and some of the new and returning firstrun series are not drawing enough viewers to be confident of a renewal for 2007-08.Barry Wallach, president of domestic TV distribution for NBC U, said there's no reason an hourlong crime show shouldn't go into syndication in a simultaneous window with a cable network -- sitcoms do it all the time. He cites "Seinfeld," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Friends" as examples of comedies that are doing well despite the fact that they play alongside one another in syndication and on TBS.Although most of the buyers are expected to be Fox, CW and MyNet stations, Garnett Losak, VP of programming for rep firm Petry TV, said Big Three affiliates that have failed with firstrun shows against powerhouse competition like "Oprah" and "Judge Judy" might choose "Criminal Intent" as counterprogramming.Bill Carroll, VP programming for rep firm Katz TV, said he was surprised by NBC U's decision to bring out "Criminal Intent." "You have to go back to 'Magnum, P.I.'," he said, "to find the last successful off-network hour in syndication." And the heyday of "Magnum" reruns was the mid- to late '80s. THE NINE (ABC) - Fox will give Internet users a sneak peak at this season's first two episodes of "The OC," while Warner Bros. TV is hoping to drum up support for "The Nine" by offering its pilot episode online for free.The fourth season premiere of "The OC" is set to air Thursday, Nov. 2, on Fox, but MySpace.com and Fox TV Station Group's 24 locally owned Fox station Web sites will offer the seg online starting Oct. 26.The show's second episode will also debut on MySpace and the Fox station sites a week before air. The Fox sites already stream shows such as "Prison Break," "Vanished" and "Happy Hour."Warner Bros. TV produces "The OC" and is also behind ABC's critically acclaimed "The Nine," which has so far struggled in its post-"Lost" Wednesday night slot.Looking to jumpstart interest in the show, Warner Bros. TV has made the pilot episode of "The Nine" available on Amazon (which actually must charge a penny), iTunes and AOL. Show will be up for two to three weeks.NIP/TUCK (FX) - Unlike most hits that lose steam in their second and third years, FX's "Nip/Tuck" is climbing into its fourth year as cable king.dult-themed plastic surgery sudser has reigned over the 18-49 heap for the past three years. Now more than ever, A-listers from film and television are taking notice of the show's booming popularity with young audiences.Brooke Shields, Rosie O'Donnell and Peter Dinklage are among the well-known faces gleefully playing against type, and the star wattage is helping "Nip/Tuck" top its own benchmarks despite taking on firstrun broadcast competish.But people who work on the skein, and critics too, attribute its success to an enduringly unique premise."Nip/Tuck" is unlike any other hybrid on TV -- part adult drama, part daytime serial -- set against the backdrop of a plastic surgery practice in Miami. Leads Dylan Walsh, Julian McMahon and Joely Richardson are at once soap operatically incestuous and emotionally devastatingThe successful mix of authentic and outrageous -- captured in the show's tagline "TV's most deeply superficially show" -- fills a special place on the dial."There's a big vast middle that wants safe comfort food, but there is a growing segment that wants something original," says FX Network prexy/g.m. John Landgraf, pointing to fall shows like "Heroes" and "Ugly Betty" as examples of similarly distinctive series. "Shows that felt remotely derivative didn't even get sampled."" 'Nip/Tuck' isn't 'The Wire.' It's macabre and sexy and relishing its place in pop culture," Landgraf says.To hear it from creator-exec producer Ryan Murphy, the show is a satire of the world "where everyone is looking for a quick fix to give their lives meaning -- and, of course, it never happens." And for all its glossy packaging, "I think that theme of need is what resonates with people."But beyond that, Murphy can't quite explain the growth. He knows fourth-season upticks are virtually unheard of in television. The show's loyal fans even stuck with the series through a potentially shark-jumping third season in which a serial killer plotline took over the character-driven drama."I had to eat a lot of crow," he freely admits. Still, a hearty 5.7 million tuned into the third-season finale.With the assistance of network execs at FX and the show's fans -- Murphy says he has an ongoing dialogue with the latter via Internet message boards -- the writers are back on track, and the current season has been lauded by critics as a return to form."Ultimately, these guys are latter day 'gods,' with their power over beauty," Landgraf says, alluding to the marketing campaign depicting the surgeons putting together a modern-day woman in the image of Venus de Milo. "We wanted to embrace the fun in that without losing the emotional core."The formula adds up: Its fourth season to-date has averaged 2.9 million adults 18-49, outperforming its previous run and standing as the clear leader among cable series.The demo perf eclipses its competitors' by a significant margin: "The Closer" by 600,000, "Psych" and "South Park" by 700,000. When an episode's three subsequent airings are factored in, each episode draws an average 5.6 million adults 18-49. That tally is higher than everything on the CW and several of the new fall shows on other nets.Because building an audience after three seasons is rare, "Nip/Tuck" is much more of a commodity than reality headline-grabbers like VH1 star Flavor Flav. The rapper set ratings records when nearly 5 million adults under 50 tuned into the finale of his dating show "Flavor of Love" last week, but industryites say the smarter, scripted chops of a "Nip/Tuck" will win out every time when it comes to cable's core constituencies: affiliates and advertisers.Horizon Media senior VP Brad Adgate says that while the number of scripted dramas on cable grows each year, they're still overwhelmed by the gads of cheaper reality shows that populate niche channels. That ratio makes critically acclaimed cable skeins like "Nip/Tuck," "The Shield," "The Closer" and "Monk" far more desirable."Dramas are still worth more to advertisers," Adgate says. The consistent growth of "Nip/Tuck" is a tribute to the show's unique premise, he adds. "There's nothing else on television like it. After four years, it still stands out in a crowd."Starcom VP of research Tom Weeks puts it another way: "The backbone of the TV business is storytelling, so while advertisers judge shows on a case-by-case basis, scripted series will always carry more cachet." PAINKILLER JANE (Sci Fi) - Starz Media has inked a co-production and distribution pact with Tandem Communications that includes the upcoming Sci Fi Channel series "Painkiller Jane" as well as a number of fantasy-adventure made-for-TV movies.Starz, a production and distribution subsidiary of Liberty Media, is partnering with Tandem on "Sands of Oblivion," about an ancient Egyptian curse that's unleashed after having been buried among the sets of Cecil B. DeMille's original "The Ten Commandments"; "The Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse," in which Life, the brother of Death, searches for three humans to take up arms against the Horsemen for the fate of the world; "Necronauts," about researchers who discover the land of the dead, a parallel dimension of non-existence, and threaten the world by bringing something back from the other side; and "Merlin's Quest," an adventure about the Camelot sorcerer.Neil Braun, Starz prexy of distribution and marketing, said, "Tandem's input into our development and pro-duction will give us an ever-important international p.o.v., which will give our programs a competitive advantage in the market.Added David Ozer, Starz exec VP of television, "Tandem has a wealth of creative and business knowledge of the international marketplace that allows Starz Media the chance to expand their reach globally."Tandem distributes its own productions as well as third-party product, and has repped fare from Lions Gate Television, Mandalay Television and Sci Fi Channel.Company recently picked up international rights to "The Company," TNT's upcoming miniseries based on Robert Littell's bestselling novel about the CIA."It's very important for our relationship with our clients to be creatively involved in all programs whether we are producing or representing them," said Rola Bauer, Tandem's co-managing director.The Munich-based Tandem will be showcasing the new product at the upcoming American Film Market. ROAD RULES (MTV) - MTV is resurrecting its reality show "Road Rules," but the rules of the game have changed.Set to premiere in January, the new season will incorporate interactive elements, among them the ability of viewers to determine through an online vote which cast member is eliminated each week, putting them in control of which six people remain behind the wheel."This is MTV's first reality show where viewers are actually casting the show and rendering the verdict about who they liked most and least," said Brian Graden, president of entertainment at MTVN Music Channels Group and president of Logo.The show, which debuted in 1995, spawning from the network's first reality show, "The Real World," chronicles the journey of six strangers stripped of all their money and traveling to locations guided only by a set of clues and their mission to arrive successfully. The series ended in 2004. This installment finds six of the most infamous former cast members as its initial passenger crew.In essence, the real-time version presents its action through two episodes -- one on-air and one on MTV's broadband video channel OverdriveAfter the new broadcast episode airs, viewers will vote for one of two cast members -- deemed the "weakest" by the rest of the cast -- to enter an elimination face-off to air on MTV Overdrive. At the same time, viewers will determine the nominee's challenger from an Internet replacement board of potential male and female challengers, which lives on MTV.com, along with video packages, personal blogs and statistics and background on each potential replacement.Both will duel for a seat back in the "Road Rules" RV through an online challenge, with viewers not knowing the winner until the next on-air episode.Additional interactive elements centered on the show include posted blogs and personal video diaries from cast members after each mission along with recorded message updates for mobile content."Viewers of reality shows have always been impassioned -- just go to the message boards, and you'll see this," said Jonathan Murray, co-creator and executive producer of the show since its creation in 1995 and the chairman and president of Bunim-Murray Prods. "These aren't actors reading lines. These are real people, and they very much represent the MTV viewers. The new 'Road Rules' takes that passion and allows viewers to channel the outcome of the show."Murray elaborated on the challenges involved producing a series in real time that he described as "two shows going on, a whole bunch of community interaction and lots of stuff happening on MTV Overdrive.""Normally these shows are taped months in advance, with it taking days to edit each episode," said Murray, who had been challenged by Graden to come up with an idea compelling enough to bring the show back to life. "But MTV is the only network that would do something like this -- to truly walk a high wire without a net."For Graden, it was the combination of elements -- being shot in real time, not knowing who will be in the cast, shooting both the on-air and Web episode simultaneously and turning it around in a seven-day window -- that had him hooked."Our philosophy is that all these new-media possibilities are liberating, and nobody knows how the world shakes out," Graden said of the interactive elements that allow viewers to affect the action. "All I know is that in the same way users are increasing their music playlists, ultimately we would love for them to have the experience of programming MTV, which is what this show allows."--> 2ff7e9595c
Comments